The Night of the Scorpion (Pentagram Chronicles No, 2) [Paperback]

Anthony Horowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1986 | Series: Pentagram Chronicles No, 2

An English journalist, his thirteen-year-old ward, and an Incan boy battle the supernatural evil of the Old Ones, who plan to enter our world through a secret gate somewhere in Peru.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to The Devil's Door-Bell, Martin and Richard fly to Peru to vanquish the Old Ones, demons who threaten to unleash their evil on the world. "Horowitz packs enough suspense and violence into the story to satisfy the most avid thriller reader," PW said.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Anthony Horowitz is an award-winning, best-selling author, well known for his popular movie, theater, and television scripts. He has written more than 20 children books, including the best-selling Alex Rider series.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Pub Group (Mm) (January 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425084477
• ISBN-13: 978-0425084472
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,187,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear -- "My father was a very secretive man," he says-- so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.
A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands&. I was an astoundingly large, round child&." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.


Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. He writes in a comfortable shed in his garden for up to ten hours per day. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he has also written episodes of several popular TV crime series, including Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. He has written a television series Foyle's War, which recently aired in the United States, and he has written the libretto of a Broadway musical adapted from Dr. Seuss's book, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. His film script The Gathering has just finished production. And&oh yes&there are more Alex Rider novels in the works. Anthony has also written the Diamond Brothers series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nazka revealed, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Night of the Scorpion (Hardcover)

Martin, the hero of 'The Devil's Doorbell' and first of the Five, discovers the existance of a second gate into the place where the Old Ones, evil prehistoric beings, were imprisoned by the Five in a previous incarnation. He must follow the clue found in the home of a murdered antiquitarian to Peru, where the second gate waits. In Peru he teams up with the last of the Incas and the second of the Five, Pedro, in a desperate attempt to prevent their modern disciples from opening the gate and returning the Old ones to earth! Although the plot is fairly standard, the story flows well and there is plenty of action. The ending has an unusual twist that is not fully revealed until the third book in the series.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Night of the Scorpion, September 23, 2010

By 

A. D. Morse "Mara Shay" (Victoria, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Night of the Scorpion (Pentagram Chronicles No, 2) (Paperback)

This is one of the original titles in Anthony Horowitz's series; 'Circle of Five'. First written in the 1980s, the author's currently in the process of rewriting and releasing this series, but this book, along with three others, existed well before the new series of books that may be more prominent on the bookshelves now. The 'Circle of Five' was originally around in the 80s and I grew up reading them. They are very mysterious, fast paced and exciting books for the younger reader. I loved them, and still do. The character development, the scares and the adventures are all there - I think the original series is still better than his new series, but I could be biased! A fantastic read for any teen/young reader who wants a book that's very different from the norm, a book that's part modern drama, part ancient fantasy and all-round adventure; just plain good vs evil story telling. Great!